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Lane County, Oregon Tries to Kick Out Monsanto with GM Ban

Jackson County, Oregon was already successful in banning genetically modified foods (known as GMOs) even though Big Ag tried to fight the democratic vote. Now another Oregon County is following suit.

Residents of Lane County have begun work collecting signatures to get a GMO crop cultivation ban onto the May 2016 ballot. They need 14,500 signatures by December 31st in order for it to come up for a vote among Lane citizens. Like all grassroots movements, they need help.

Recently, in Jackson County, A federal judge rejected a claim by farmers that the ordinance violated their “right to farm” under state law. Their claim that they should get $4.2 million in compensation from the county is still pending, however, and county officials agreed not to enforce the GMO ban until it’s resolved.

You can bet that Monsanto’s lawyers have already sniffed out this appeal, and will do anything to stop it. After all, one county has already been successful giving them the boot, and biotech can’t allow a precedent to be built upon. If that were to happen, the whole state, and then the entire nation, would soon be GM-free county-by-county if need be.

Big Ag and Biotech have already tried to supersede state’s rights to label or ban GMOs. You can be certain that if that law passes with the DARK act, then counties will be stripped of that right as well – even though it is entirely unconstitutional.